Infinix Hot S Review – Just A Few Steps To Perfect Lifestyle

Infinix just launched a new smartphone model X521 which adopts the name Hot S with an impression of a device ready to fire things up with some sophisticated hardware and software. Infinix isn’t letting that go unnoticed with its hype around the Hot S centred on Infinix tagging it a “Lifestyle phone” and the first of it kind. Now the question is what is a Lifestyle smartphone?

Where to Buy Infinix HOT S & Pay On Delivery

Jumia Nigeria |from N13,995 Click to View Price Offers!

Jumia Kenya |from Ksh3,530 Click to View Price Offers!

The Infinix Hot 3 is the predecessor to the Hot S which received a lot of media attention because of its selfie soft flash light. Infinix Hot S however is the first fingerprint smartphone from the company.

The main selling points of the Hot S lifestyle smartphone is the fingerprint sensor, great cameras and other features which would let you do the things you love doing with your smartphone, be it gaming, video streaming, mobile photography and lots more. Although we can not only limit the device features to just its 13-megapixel rear and 8-megapixel front camera configurations, nothing is special about that though. But what makes the camera special? Let’s find that out quickly.

We have already taken you through the smartphone  hands-on “unboxing rite” for this great new device in our kitty courtesy from Infinix Mobility. But hey, it’s never too much sampling this great smartphone, and we’re giving you a close-up view of the smartphone.

GENERAL DESIGN

We’ve got the Champagne Gold colour variant of the Hot S but the smartphone also comes in Rose Gold, Med Blue, Glossy Silver, Berlin Gray as well. The design of the smartphone does not look spectacular but it has a sturdy, cute, and simple design.

The Infinix phone weighs 143g, it feels very light even with having a metallic frame, measures a sleek 146 x 71 x 8mm and has a slightly curved body that breaks away from the edgy design on the Hot 2. Perhaps the juice is on the hardware it packs; we will see. The back cover is made of some matte plastic material. It has a groundless design with a flat display screen up front.

On the right side of the Hot S, you will find the volume control buttons as well as the power button. On the top right edge of the 143g Hot S carves the 3.5mm audio jack and at the centre bottom, there is a USB charging port and two speaker grills as well. It also feels very well made. But, I am very surprised to see that it is only the right speaker that works, while the other side (left) is where the mouth piece is.

The left side houses the SIM card tray that has some similarities to the InnJoo Fire 2, which only allow for either two micro SIMs OR one micro SIM + microSD card, and that might just be the case considering the smartphone packs just 16GB of built in storage. Thankfully, the microSD card gives an extra storage space of up to 128GB.

 

Flipping over to the backside, the transparent sticker attached to the non-removable back cover is more or less an operational guide which directs on how the volume control buttons and the power button function. There’s also a guide on how to insert the dual micro SIM cards into the slots. One of the SIM slots can be swapped for a microSD card.

DISPLAY

Just in case you are wondering about the display size, the Infinix Hot S crams in a 5.2-inch IPS HD, it seems Infinix have probably done a survey before taking this step. Its display is quite bright and you will not need to cover the screen with your hand under the sun to properly see the display. It has up to 16M colours and a pixel density of 320 pixels-per-inch and NOT 424 pixels-per-inch. There is no way a 5.2-inch screen with resolution of 720 by 1280 HD will translate into 424 ppi. The display allows multitasking and the HD resolution looks suitable to view high-resolution videos and pictures. Infinix Hot S has physical soft keys with no backlit. With clarity.

The touch screen support up to 5 fingers.

The display is covered out-of-the-box with transparent stickers attached to the screen and on the back. The on-screen label contains a roll call of the key features of the Infinix Hot S X521. No doubt, these specs will form the driving force behind the publicity for this device.

INFINIX HOT S REAR CAMERA

The handset has a centered 13-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash just below it. The rear camera turn you into a photographer overnight with its mouth-watering features that makes you fine-tune the way you want images to appear and how photos are taken. The rear Camera has advanced features like Beauty, Professional, Normal, Panorama, Night & PIP mode. The PIP mode makes use of both the back and front camera at once. Video Quality is enhanced up to 1080p.

Below are some of the photos taken with the Hot S in different lighting conditions:

FRONT CAMERA OF INFINIX HOT S – SELFIE TIME! 🙂

Infinix markets the Hot S for its selfie capabilities. The phone is themed ‘Fingerprint your selfie’ with focus on how the brand has created an excellent photography device for users, with effortless selfies, using 8-megapixel front camera & Finger print scanner. These two key features combined with filters and camera effects make Infinix HOT S the perfect lifestyle smartphone. It comes in assorted modes like Beauty, Normal, WideSelfie (that let you take panorama selfies) and PIP.

The front facing snapper is also blessed with a soft flash for people who love to take selfies at night. Selfies taken outdoors look quite good but if you’re going to use the “soft flash,” you should have your face close to the camera.

Here are some of the photos taken using the 8-megapixel front camera + Finger print scanner.

Earlier on we got news that the rumoured Infinix Zero 4 will come with a lower 16MP camera than we saw on the Zero 3 with 20.7MP primary camera. That got us thinking that Infinix might have ditched the idea of a larger pixel camera for a better individual pixel size that in principle is capable of providing precise, high-resolution shots, especially in low light conditions. At 1.4um of every single pixel, the Hot S may just be tailored to suit that part of our lifestyle that loves capturing beautiful moments in crisp, clear shots and selfies. Even group selfies can be captured with ease with the 120-Degree wide angle shot which ensures no one is left out of the pictures. The dual-LED flash on the main camera adds more juice to the mix.

Any Vlogger (Video Blogger) in the house?

The handset comes pre-installed with “Magic Movie”, which let you create your own movie without editing; this aids camera-centric users in creating fantastic videos. The Magic Movie has preloaded templates to assist you, and quite amazingly, the videos can be uploaded and shared on social media. 🙂

NETWORK / CONNECTIVITY

Infinix Hot s carries the latest 4G LTE network band, as well as 3G and 2G bands. The device OTG cable is featured in Infinix hot s for exchanging data from different devices like laptops or other smartphones. For charging and data transfer, microUSB is present. The handset also has connectivity of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

PERFORMANCE

Still on the hardware,  the Infinix Hot S comes powered by a 64-bit Octa-core ARMv7 processor (MediaTek MT 6753) that clocks at 1,300MHz accompanied with a 2GB of RAM for smarter performance and playing heavy games. A Mali-T720 GPU runs the show for graphics.

There’s a 3GB RAM variant of this device available in the Nigerian market.

·        Performance on Antutu Benchmark

I used Antutu Benchmark to check device performance; it includes RAM, Graphics, CPU and Software performance. Infinix Hot S has gained a point of 36,881, impressive results.

·        Performance on Vellamo Benchmark

Vellamo benchmark consists of three kinds of tests including Single core, Multicore and browser testing. Infinix Hot S attained 1274 points in multi core and 2576 in browser test.

The show doesn’t look too fantastic on booting the device, but it is just okay for a mid-range device. The Hot S takes 42 seconds to boot on and takes 12 seconds to switch off.

There’s the Fingerprint sensor as well, and we must point out that this is the first Infinix smartphone that comes sporting a fingerprint scanner at the back, just below the camera and the LED flash. This enables you unlock your phone or setup some application to request for identification before accessing and for fast device screen unlock, and this one is super fast!

SOFTWARE – XOS

On the software aspect, the device is running on Infinix’s custom X chameleon operating system built on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

 

Swiping left on the screen reveal some other enclosed app in a folder. We have the XOS Family, Fun & Casuals, Media, Social and Tools folder:

Talk about functionality, you have a bunch of tools all to yourself to effectively take control of your device. The X theme is pre-installed; you can choose theme of your own choice. X Share is available for data transfer with the help of Wi-Fi. Infinix Hot S has Freezer option which let you freeze any applications that are not regularly used.

The XHide feature that accompanied the device can be used to hide valuable personal information.

Hot S app drawer has regular option like screen record, do not disturb, high performance, invert colors etc.

BATTERY

Under its hood that is not removable, is a generous 3000mAh battery capacity which is of course a disappointment considering the fact that most phones in the same category offer nothing less than 4000mAh battery capacity. As expected, it lasts for over a day with normal use. However, you can max it out in 8 hours and drain all the juice, it all depends on an individual’s pattern of use.

We are going to prove more by subjecting the Hot S to extreme usage – hardcore gaming, video streaming, music, film production, multitasking, installing and running several apps at the same time and see how it pans out. Watch out for more on the Infinix Hot S X21.

VERDICT

Infinix Hot S is purely entertainment phone with good specifications in affordable price range. The 13-megapixel rear and 8-megapixel front camera makes it more top-notch as this time is all about good camera results which Infinix Hot S is surely providing.

While this smartphone may not rank among the high-end flagships, it holds its own with the generous specs line-up. For a phone that costs about ₦45,500, it still gives you value for your cash considering that it has almost same specs as that of  It’s close competitor in the Nigerian market, Tecno Phantom 5 sold at around ₦70,000.

It’s good news that the Infinix Hot S is now available in Nigeria. You can buy this smartphone at leading online stores in the country. This device costs around ₦45,500 depending on your location in the country.

Where to Buy Infinix HOT S & Pay On Delivery

Jumia Nigeria |from N13,995 Click to View Price Offers!

Jumia Kenya |from Ksh3,530 Click to View Price Offers!

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